Coming Sunday: Man is left a virtual toddler

The story of an Iowan's tragic life, death after a lobotomy.

Jan. 2, 2014

Richard Meredith’s family says his death last September was a cruel echo of the crippling thing Iowa mental-health administrators did to him nearly 60 years ago. Meredith, who was institutionalized as a teenager for what now sounds like a fairly moderate mental disability, was given a lobotomy in 1955, state records show. The procedure, which was fairly common at the time, turned him into a virtual toddler, his family says. He would never again carry on a coherent conversation.

Family members say state officials told them he died of a heart attack on Sept. 1, after having a “choking episode” earlier in the day. The family was outraged to learn later from a Des Moines Register story that he in fact had choked to death on a peanut-butter sandwich that a staff member mistakenly gave him. Inspectors blamed the staff for failing to follow a doctor’s order that Meredith only be given pureed food because he had a swallowing problem. His sister, Cleojean Olson, is furious that state administrators failed to tell the whole truth. “I don’t understand why they’re doing all this dancing around,” she said. “It would be so much easier to do the right thing.”

Learn more about the story today in this video. Read the full story in the Sunday Des Moines Register and at DesMoinesRegister.com.